On Indymedia.org, Indymedia is defined as “a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth.” Right now there are more than one hundred and fifty Independent Media Centers (IMCs) that are all free to create their own goals and prospects, control their own funding and make their own decisions as a unique organization.
The Indymedia organization started when a group of long time independent journalists got together in Seattle, to report on protests of the World Trade Organization. They posted their articles on the first founded Indymedia website and soon after created their own Independent Media Center. The idea began to spread and more and more communities wished to open their own IMC and they have been popping up all over the world ever since.
The Indymedia has many goals but the three that stand out the most are their desire to print truthful and accurate news, their vision of a world with as much independent media as possible, and their wish that all citizens realize that they have control over their life and environment and that they have the freedom to impact it.
Indymedia is important because it allows the public to speak their minds and show their community what is important to them. You get a different point of view on stories and they are easier to relate to because they are written my actual citizens.
Because corporate media is so flawed due to bias public relations firms and so on, you can no longer trust the information you see on television, read in the newspaper and hear on the radio. “Public relations firms are them-selves corporations which exist to serve the propaganda interests of their clients,” states Stauber and Ramton in their book, “Toxic Sludge is Good For You”. With Indymedia, you don't have to worry about corrupt corporate policy so it is easier to have trust in what you are reading.
I am truly greatful to the Indymedia organization because they give real people control over a small but very important aspect of the media and in a way grant us a certain craved freedom.
Stauber, John and Rampton, Sheldon. Toxic Sludge Is Good For You; Lies, Damn Lies and The Public Relations Industry. Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995.
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